Butterfly Symmetry Lesson

Life cycles are one of my favorite topics to teach, and what better time to teach them than spring? I usually focus on the butterfly, frog, chicken, and plant life cycles, and I integrate literacy and math topics, too.Learning about butterflies lends itself nicely to teaching kiddos about symmetry! Watch this short video to see an easy craft you can do to help students understand that a butterfly’s wings have a symmetrical pattern:

After we do the butterfly craft, I ask the kids to talk with a partner about what they noticed. Then, I reconvene with the entire class to listen to their thoughts, and I introduce the concept of symmetry. Here are a few additional ideas you could use to extend the symmetry lesson:

In the past, I’ve made symmetry anchor charts with my kids, on which we listed or drew things that are symmetrical. You can include alphabet letters, shapes, and numbers on this list, as well as classroom objects. You could even make the anchor chart interactive, like this one fromMrs. T’s First Grade Class. It looks like she used cut-out shapes and actually folded them to help the kids see if they were symmetrical or not. Neat!